In a statement issues this afternoon, Kenny stated he will continue to work in radio at Newstalk.

He said he has "thoroughly enjoyed adapting" to what was a fresh challenge in his career and is still "hugely enthused by it".

He added, "At that time, I made a commitment to bed in the radio show at Newstalk 106 in a very focused way and I’m happy that we’re on track in that task.

"With that initial period under our belt, the timing is now really good to get back into television - a medium in which I grew up and for which I have a massive passion."

Of a return to TV he said, "Passion is very much at the centre of my rationale for teaming up with the new team at UTV Ireland – the passion and energy which they’re demonstrating very much matches my own desire to get out there with something innovative, exciting and creative.

"I’m energised by what I’ve seen and the prospect of working with talented young people allied to some very experienced and wise colleagues. I’m very excited to be joining UTV Ireland and really looking forward to broadcasting again early in 2015.

"For me, this is new territory – interesting, challenging and fresh."

The former Late Late Show host revealed he has already had discussions with UTV on how to produce a suitable programme.

"During the next few months we’ll take what is effectively a blank canvas with some initial strands and shape it to create the best television possible," he said.

"I know the output will reflect the passion, talent, creativity and the energy of the team at UTV Ireland and I’m delighted to be part of that team.”

RTE recently admitted that two of the new challenges facing the state broadcaster included newcoming UTV Ireland and the growing popularity of internet TV and movie service Netflix.

The Newstalk presenter, who switched from RTE last year, now has 134,000 listeners to his morning chat show up from the 114,000 he had when the last Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) survey results were published in May.

The latest figures also showed that Kenny’s rival Sean O’Rourke still has the most listeners in the weekday mid-morning talk show slot with 307,000 listeners.